


This is Why we can't have Ice Things

by SoAshamed



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Homestuck Shipping Olympics, Post SBURB, Roadtrip, Slice of Life, good ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-15
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-16 09:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoAshamed/pseuds/SoAshamed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As you bend down to zip up your suitcase you think about the possibility and about why it was that you suddenly suggested this impromptu road trip. You needed something different, a taste of the world outside cold statues, cold smiles and even colder walls.</p><p>You've just stopped in Vermont, Montreal is scant hours away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is Why we can't have Ice Things

**Author's Note:**

> HSO bonus round 5. 
> 
> Rose/Kanaya: Montreal.

Normally you wouldn't exactly consider Montreal to be a must visit site that you simply had to go out of your way for, especially when your goal is Los Angeles. But, as you're gathering up your belongings, Kanaya taps you on the shoulder and asks with bright eyes how there could ever be such a thing as a hotel made of ice, pointing to the small television set perched on the dresser of the bread and breakfast you stayed the night at as proof. That's when you remember that it should be right about time for the _Fête des Neiges._  
  
"I don't understand." Kanaya speaks with such calculated deliberateness that you always find it particularly charming when she tries so hard to sound confused. "How could you even have something like that?" Behind the careful confusion there is a rare hint of awe tinting her voice as she stares at the hotel. You don't know how she got to this channel, which has a mild mannered French commentary talking about the changes to the new Snow Village. "It must be so cold there to keep ice even in the bright seasons."  
  
"It's not that much colder than here, actually." You've noticed that trolls, especially Kanaya who lived in a desert, tended to have skewed ideas about the weather. "They don't keep it up during the summer; it's built new every year." You fold up your pajama pants as you speak, lamenting how there never seems to be as much room in your suitcase when you have to put things back into it. "From what I hear it's very popular during their winter festival. The big hotel one is in Quebec City but that one is Montreal."  
  
"Built new every year." Kanaya sounds breathless with wonder as she repeats the words, and a quick glance shows she is shaking her head slowly at the television. "And to have more than one. We could never have something like that on Alternia. The cold regions are too barren and much too dangerous for something that frivolous."  
  
As you bend down to zip up your suitcase you think about the possibility and about why it was that you suddenly suggested this impromptu road trip. You needed something different, a taste of the world outside cold statues, cold smiles and even colder walls.  
  
You've just stopped in Vermont, Montreal is scant hours away.  
  
"Would you like to see it?"  
  
Kanaya turns to you in surprise. "The ice hotel?"  
  
"That would be the one." You don't know much about Montreal, but judging by the snowman dancing on the television screen it should be just around the right time. "It's actually not that far and it looks like the festival will be in full swing."  
  
"Oh I see." She looks back at the television stares at it for a few moments before nodding firmly. "Yes, I would like that."  
  
\--  
  
You get to your hotel and politely ask the man behind the front desk "Excuzes moi, parlez-vous anglais?" with such a bad accent you are a little surprised he doesn't cringe. Then again he has probably been inundated with it day in and day out.  
  
You watch discretely as Kanaya's eyes widen like saucers when they respond that they do. Not that it really matters when you pull out your credit card. That, as you know well, is an international language. You manage to get a nice room for a decent price, which is good enough for you. Though you would have loved to rent a room in the Snow Village and watch as Kanaya attempted some icy version of troll Feng Shui, a quick peek online showed that all but their most impractically priced rooms had been booked. As things are, you think the Holiday Inn will still serve your purposes nicely.  
  
As you walk away Kanaya leans in excitedly to ask if you can really speak the language. Although it seems all trolls innately know English, you suspect the game had a heavy hand in that, other languages tended to baffle them. Karkat in particular seemed to think that a planet with multiple languages was nothing short of a personal attack on his sensibilities.  
  
You respond that you were lucky that man did not just laugh in your face, but if she wants you can teach her a few words of French.  
  
You're surprised when she grins like a child, it's rare for her to let herself so loose. Looking at the way her smile lights up her face and listening to her excited babble about linguistics you decide that she really holds herself back too much. But then you are living in a glass house so you think that perhaps you should let the stones be.  
  
\--  
  
Kanaya is an absolutely abysmal skater.  
  
You aren't much better. Your Mom had you go for lessons as a child but like all of your lessons, except for violin, you took them for a year and then stopped. The ice rink was too far and you had been too disinterested. The lessons are at least enough to keep you upright on the ice if not much more, which makes you look like a graceful swan next to Kanaya's fumbling.  
  
You really do appreciate surprisingly blasé tone you have found here. The crowd of couples and families around you sometimes stop to laugh at your more spectacular failures, but otherwise don't pay much attention. No one has raised an eyebrow at either the fact that you are two women awkwardly trying hold holds and stay upright or that you are a troll and a human doing the same. You think this little detour in your road trip is turning out to be a good one.  
  
Or at least you do until Kanaya flounders and drags you down with her, sending both of you skidding across the ice on your asses.  
  
\--  
  
You have to admit it, the Snow Village is very impressive. Although you didn't have the thousands of dollars to drop on a room, your much more modest thirty dollars gets you into a scheduled English tour. Kanaya gives the French tour an odd look and you think she really must be fascinated by the language. You wonder if she would be able to handle Parisian French.  
  
The rooms are much warmer than you thought they would be and you now lament the half hour you spent searching for your scarf, but it's still cold enough that you can see your breath. You can also see Kanaya occasionally playing with hers, letting it out in quick puffs or blowing it out like smoke. For the most part, however, any coldness is forgotten as you stare at the intricately carved walls and furniture.  
  
That said, you are willing to pretend that it is much colder than it is when Kanaya presses up against you, as though she were trying to steal some of your warmth. She hooks an arm into yours, missing the first time for not looking at you.  
  
The two of you _ooh_ and _ahh_ at the appropriate places and, if one of your hands finds its way into the pockets of Kanaya's tasteful, double breasted coat, well, you are pretending it's very cold out after all.  
  
\--  
  
Before you leave, you make sure to go for a walk at night when all of the lights are out. The light show is nothing short of impressive, with lights hanging from every conceivable surface in a spectacular display. You even see a few other trolls along the way as you walk around the city. After admiring the beauty of the lights for a while you take a detour into an empty park.  
  
Away from the prying eyes of others, and without any cleared roads to keep the snow from her, you watch Kanaya bend down immediately to gather up some of the snow in her hands. It isn't the first time she has seen it by any means but every time she does she never seems to be any less fascinated. You aren't all that surprised, she did grow up in a desert after all.  
  
While she rolls it around in her hands, commenting on how this snow is thicker, you discretely scoop up a little bit of snow from where it clings to a nearby pine. You innocently walk over when she beacons you, looking over her shoulder at the snowball she has clumsily crafted. Then, with all of your dignity and grace, you shove the snow in your hand down the back of her shirt and run.  
  
\--  
  
You can't stay in Montreal for long. For one thing, the Holiday Inn is not actually the cheapest place for you be spending your nights, if still cheaper than a hotel carved from ice. For another your friends will get antsy if they don't hear from you in too long. You're hoping to keep a fairly tight schedule and be back on track before anyone else knows it.  
  
On the way out of the hotel Kanaya turns to the doorman, a light dusting of green on her cheeks betraying her nervousness, and mumbles an embarrassed "Merci."  
  
He smiles at her and brightly says "De rien." back.  
  
She bubbles about it all of the way to the car, and you think you may have created a monster with this little side trip. But, when you see that childish smile on her face again, you really can't bring yourself to mind.


End file.
